I wanted to try something a little different, so this is a bit of an experiment. It didn’t turn out as well as I thought, but it’s a start and may end up leading to better analysis in the long run so bear with me.

I've been playing around with voice to text software, in an effort to make notes easier and especially to take advantage so I don't have to take my eyes off the game. What I tried to do here is just talk my way through last night's Leafs and Panthers game. I’ve restricted edits to spelling mistakes and player names. One element I do regret is not pointing out the time of these thoughts. That may be the next step.

Outside of the battle for the first playoff appearance in nearly a decade, which the Leafs are surely in the thick of, there's another quiet battle going on between fans who want to buy in that this team is going nowhere but up, and others who are holding their breath and waiting for the law of averages to crush our hopes and dreams.

It turns out you cannot stop the Toronto Maple Leafs, you can only hope to contain them.

Or, perhaps, the only person on the planet who could effectively shut down the juggernaut that is the Toronto Maple Leafs is Ben Scrivens, the 26-year old undrafted opening day starter who now has two consecutive shutouts.

A Maple Leafs team that came out flat turned it all around on a fortuitous turnover by Mike Weaver that led to a Phil Kessel partial breakaway. Kessel snapped home his third of the season on a beautiful shot at full speed. Two other LeafsNation favourites, Nazem Kadri and Clarke MacArthur, scored goals in the second and the Leafs walked through the third for their second straight 3-0 win.

A quick little prospect update for you kind folks while you're watching the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers play ice hockey.

All good things must come to an end, apparently... Kitchener Rangers forward Josh Leivo had his 14-game point streak snapped today in a 5-3 loss to the Guelph Storm (backstopped by fellow Leafs prospect Garret Sparks). During that stretch, Leivo scored 5 goals and 19 points.

On the season, Leivo's potted 25 goals and added 40 assists. His 65 points in 52 games is good for 16th in OHL scoring - not too shabby.

Morgan Rielly shook off an lengthy goal scoring slump this past week, scoring 4 goals and adding an assist in his last 3 games.

With 11 goals and 44 points on the season, Rielly sits 4th in scoring amongst WHL defenders. This is especially impressive, considering the Moose Jaw Warriors are in a three-way tie as the 2nd-lowest scoring team in the WHL.

Dominic Toninato is on a nice little 5-game pony streak, including 2 goals in a 6-1 Fargo win over Waterloo on Saturday. With 20 goals and 49 points in 47 games, Toninato is 8th in USHL scoring.

Lastly, go read this excellent piece on Nazem Kadri and his development over the past few seasons from Mr. Cotsonika. I normally write off any player/coach disagreements as exaggerations and/or fabrications, but it certainly sounds like there were real issues between Kadri and former Leafs coach Ron Wilson.